I first heard this song on the landmark Australian folk album "Moreton Bay and Other Songs, Mainly of Convict Origin", which Peter Mann records brought out in 1963, with Martyn Wyndham-Read, Brian Mooney and David Lumsden, the first two being the most popular singers on the Australian folk scene of the sixties. The song deals with the dangers of petty crime which can lead to transportation to the penal colony of Australia.
Though it is claimed as an Australian song where I come from, it probably originated in Britain. The earliest known version was published in Manchester between 1837 and 1853, and sets the song in Barking, Essex. It has no chorus, but begins:
One day, being out on a ramble, alone by myself I did stray,
I met with a young gay deceiver, while cruising in Ratcliffe Highway;
Her eyes were as black as a raven, I thought her the pride of the land,
Her hair, that did hang o'er her shoulders, was tied with a black velvet band.
It is very popular in Ireland, where, of course, it is claimed as an Irish song.
It has been recorded by many Irish groups, including The Dubliners and Dropkick Murphys.
This rather "rough and ready" video was shot at a barbecue with members of the Hong Kong Folk Society at Li Po Chun United World College in Shatin. There is a bit of confusion about the words as John Walsh, singing the chorus with me, is, of course, more familiar with the Irish version!
